President Obama names Walmart exec to budget post

WASHINGTON — President Obama will nominate Walmart Foundation president Sylvia Mathews Burwell as director of the Office of Management and Budget on Monday, according to published reports. Burwell will be nominated at a White House ceremony during the morning.

Obama announced his intent to appointment Burwell several months ago, but the nomination on Monday makes it official and paves the way for Senate confirmation hearings to begin.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke said Burwell would do a tremendous job serving the county if she is confirmed by the Senate.

"Sylvia is a strong leader who both masters the details and has a clear vision for making big things happen," Duke said. "She cares deeply about people and has natural personal warmth that enables her to build relationships and drive results that deliver impact. She understands business and the role that business, government and civil society must play to build a strong economy that provides opportunity and strengthens communities across the country."

Burwell’s tenure at Walmart was short lived. She joined the company a little over a year ago after roughly a decade in various leadership roles with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, she held various positions in Washington, D.C. including deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

As head of the Office of Management and Budget, Burwell will be responsible for preparing the president’s annual budget.

Prior to her federal government work, Burwell worked for McKinsey & Company. She is a member of the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of MetLife, and the Aspen Strategy Group. She received an A.B. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

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Giant-Landover offers jobs to veterans, collects funding for USO during Military Appreciation Month

LANDOVER, Md. — Supermarket chain Giant Food of Landover, Md., will focus on the employment of transitioning veterans and their family members as it designates March as its Military Appreciation Month, the Ahold USA banner said Friday.

Giant-Landover will work with the USO of Metropolitan Washington and USO Delaware for a third year, sponsoring an in-store giving campaign that will support programs from both across the Mid-Atlantic region.

"At Giant, our military recruitment philosophy is focused on careers, not jobs," Giant-Landover president Anthony Hucker said. "We’re seeking energetic and enthusiastic military leaders who can translate skills they’ve developed serving our country to lead our store teams in management positions to proudly serve our customers."

So far, the chain has added five veterans to store management teams, and several additional offers are pending. Giant is actively recruiting veterans through employment websites for veterans and military-focused career fairs. The company is also collecting money for the USO chapters by selling healthy snack packs containing a Giant-brand nutrition bar, pretzel bar, drink sticks, fruit snacks, bottled water and CareOne hand sanitizer, as well as collecting donations added to grocery bills. The chain collected $108,000 and nearly 10,000 pounds of food for USO-Metro in 2011 and delivered $78,500 and more than 15,000 Care Packages to USO-Metro and USO Delaware in 2012.

"At mygofer, your list is our command," Sears tells shoppers on its website. "Shop with us for your prescriptions, groceries, beauty products, clothes, shoes, electronics and a whole lot more you might not expect. So whatever’s on your list, we can help you get it — with incredible speed and no hassles. That’s convenience."

Convenience. That’s what today’s shoppers are looking for in their omnichannel shopping ventures, at least according to a recent PWC report outlining the omnichannel opportunity. According to a PWC survey, the convenience of shopping whenever they want was cited by 28% of shoppers as one of the principle reasons behind shopping online. Following that ability to shop at anytime from anywhere, reasonable pricing, free and fast delivery and the wide range of products from which to choose were the next factors on their list of reasons to shop one online site over another.

"The ecommerce industry is about to take another giant step forward with the launch of Shutl’s innovative delivery solution," stated Steven Chien, Shutl VP and general manager North America. "Shutl will be a great partner for those multi-channel retailers looking to better compete with Amazon and provide new ways to delight their customers."

"For those who offer an omnichannel shopping experience to the consumer, the consumer actually spends more with that retailer," observed Lisa Feigen Dugal, PwC’s U.S. retail and consumer sector advisory leader, in an interview for DSN‘s omnichannel cover story in February. "Omnichannel provides the consumer with even more options than they’ve ever had before both for buying and researching," she suggested.

And now that same-day delivery is more and more looking like a realistic point of differentiation, the race to capture that bigger marketbasket is on.

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